Mary Elizabeth Castro-Ayala

So I was priced gouged and asked for retainer money constantly , but what this lawyer did was not matching the money! So got new lawyer they used law and 1500$ later I won my son back! Paralegal is family so Mary takes care of her on your dimes or I means 1,000$ , Cindy Hopper is the best , no star w...ould be better

Mary entered my life at the scariest time I could ever imagine living through. She imediately took my case, and came in on her day off to make sure my TRO was filed. Seeing her now many times in court I have to over stress she is the most prepared, professional and smartest person in any room. Sh...e will always fight hard for you. Always. I’m so incredible blessed that she took my case and has taken care of me and my children. Hire her!!! You will never find a better attorney EVER!!!!!!

Ok so Mary was my attorney the first round and I gladly hired her for round two. My ex got an attorney as well and I will say, you can tell a lot by the way someone works or prepares themselves. Mary walked into that court room with a 6" thick file for my case, my ex's attorney walked in with a not...epad and a 1/8" thick file. As Mary read my file, organized, and got ready, the other attorney sat there combing his hair. When dealing with the judge Mary was right on top of everything, I was truly impressed. Mary got everything I was asking for, she is VERY knowledgeable, very professional, VERY kind hearted towards her clients, and all around an amazing person. I always felt welcomed in their office, not like a client but more like a friend. Kim is an amazing person as well, she went above and beyond to help me with every question, every email, paperwork, anything, all I had to do was ask and she always had a smile. My daughter said this, "I LOVE MARY & KIM!!!! They are sweet! Can we keep them?" gotta love teenagers. I will also say this if I ever need another family law attorney no matter where I am Mary & Kim will be the only ones I call.

My ex decided to have a few affairs and informed me she was going to take me to the cleaners. Mary & Kim made sure that didn't happen! Even with the emotional struggles I was going through both Mary & Kim were there as a support system. They explained the process completely and thoroughly, they wa...lked me through every single step. They were very fast to respond to every question and make adjustments to my case as needed. I've never worked with an attorney who was so passionate about their clients and what they do, I can say they took a heart breaking experience and made it rather enjoyable. In the end I kept the kids, jeep, and everything else. God forbid you ever have to experience what I did but if you do this is the attorney you want by your side!

I hired Mary in January of 2015 and received her services for 1 year & my fees exceeded $10k. I want to emphasize that she was only hired to get the judge to order the sale of the family home & my share of the community property. She did not touch my child support case nor my child custody nor my d...ivorce. All those order were already in place. She started off strong but faded as time went by. I don't feel as if she was looking out for my best interests. My ex-husband's attorney failed to show up to court on multiple occasions & she always seemed to make up excuses for him because he was ill. There were times when I doubted if she was on my side. My ex-husband's attorney would literally call in to court at the time of hearing to inform the judge he was sick and Mary would be like "poor Bob". On another occasion he faxed the court a letter the day prior to a trail stating he would not make it to court the next day because he would be at the emergency room at the exact time of the court hearing! It made absolutely no sense that he knew that he would be "ill" at the exact time we had court on the next day but as always, he was excused. Each time that happened I would end up with another huge bill anywhere from $1000-$1500 for Mary's time for preparation, travel, appearance and to get a continuance. This happened SEVERAL TIMES! On one occasion she couldn't appear with me so she sent a colleague. Since the colleague was not familiar with the case, nothing could really be done & court ended up getting continued & again costing me more money. For her to read a simple email cost me $100 & a 7 second voicemail left for me cost me $25! Although the judge finally ordered my ex-husband to pay sanctions, the order stated that if my ex-husband failed to make his monthly payment timely, the entire amount would become due immediately. My ex-husband failed to make those monthly payments & Mary failed to enforce them, having an order from the court. After a year of court hearings and thousands of dollars later the judge finally ordered the sale of the home. After that order was made, I still continued to rack up fees, another $1500 in fees at least in just a matter of days for communications between her & my realtor. I was forced to dismiss her services. Right before that I received an order stating that parties had agreed that all issues were resolved when in fact I NEVER told Mary I agreed to stop pursuing my share of all the community property. She apologized for misunderstanding me & advised that she could file to vacate that order & set it aside but that meant additional fees of course, even though it was not my mistake that she "assumed" that I had backed off from pursuing my share of the assets. Since I yet have to see a penny from this case, I was forced to leave that alone. I am definitely disappointed & dissatisfied with her services. I would definitely not recommend her services. I don't feel like she ever "pushed" in my case. I also recommend to please read your contracts VERY carefully.